Late one night as you struggle with the perfect prepositional phrase to turn your term paper into a work of art, your pencil point breaks (yes, perhaps a little outdated in the age of computers, but. . .) Unconsciously, you reach for the pencil sharpener and continue to crank out your last-minute masterpiece.

Your eyes move to the clock. Four a.m. -- study break! You reach into the refrigerator for a snack to keep those creative juices flowing.

The next morning, as you stand on College Ave., you have (gasp!) four minutes to get to Willard to turn in your research paper. You wait anxiously for the traffic light to change so you can cross the street. (Use your imagination, we all know that students at Penn State don't wait for the light.)

Three minutes! Why doesn't the light change? Who decided to invent a traffic light anyway?

To answer that question, Garrett Morgan invented the traffic light. J. Standards invented the refrigerator; Benjamin Banneker patented the first clock in the United States and J. L. Love invented the pencil sharpener. Never heard of them? Most people haven't. They are all Americans who have contributed to our comfort and safety. They are all black Americans.

February is designated as Black History Month. As we enter this month, I find myself wondering, "Who decided that one month, the shortest month of the year -- even during leap year -- is enough time to honor and remember the contributions of an entire race of people?"

We all need to wake up. One month is not enough time to honor the achievements of the black people --particularly when the only real historical data many of us receive about blacks in our schools across the nation is slavery.

I remember sitting in history classes from elementary to high school wondering why there was no one like me who contributed to the foundation of this nation. Sure, we all know Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Crispus Attucks, Harriet Tubman, Jackie Robinson and George Washington Carver, but where is the mention of Dr. Charles Drew who revolutionized the concept of blood plasma, literally saving millions of lives?

Where do we find the name Matthew Henson who led the first exploration party to the North Pole in 1909? How many people know that Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, a black man, performed the first successful open heart surgery in 1893 --without the benefit of anesthesia?

We all need to be aware that black people, as individuals and as a race, have made numerous and significant contributions to this nation. But as Black History Month begins, we also can't forget the historical racism and degradation that blacks have endured.

Do you remember the Dred Scott Decision declaring a slave as three-fifths of a white man? Have you seen Roots? It's not fiction. The destruction of the black family, language and religion is a part of our history. The whippings, rapes and lynchings were real.

Did you know that black men were unknowingly used in an experimental test for the effects of syphilis at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama? Our esteemed government announced that in only 1972. Remember the horrifying Atlanta child murders? The government possesses detailed evidence concluding that the Ku Klux Klan is the power behind that atrocity.

In the United States -- a nation that proclaims its enlightenment -- where is the black history? It's not in the history books I read in school. Who decided that the aforementioned contributions are insignificant and should be excluded from history, or modified? Where is the account of the black role models -- living and dead -- that would allow a young black child struggling with her self-concept to identify with her culture and feel proud? When will the knowledge of the first human fossils found in Tanzania be acknowledged to allow the young white child to realize that he possesses no superior position over another culture, but a common bond?

When are we, as a nation, going to stand up and demand a truthful account of black history? Will the American history books ever be rewritten to include what has been systematically left out? We will never realize the dream of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. until everyone realizes that black history is American history. Are we to continue living under the myth of the "Great Melting Pot" when every culture that buys into it or is forced to comply with it loses too much of itself in the process?

We all need to be aware of our history. We can never forget the people, places and events of the past because they are not as far removed from us as we would like to believe. Racism and discrimination are still alive and well in the good ole USA -- no matter what anyone tells you.

If the world were an ideal place then I could believe as many people believe that "if we all learn to love each other, everything will be alright." That's very easy to say with true conviction when you have not experienced what I have as an African-American woman. I can say honestly that I don't care if you love me, but I will the demand the respect I deserve as a human being.

It's very easy to believe that love will make the world a better place, when you are not a part of a culture that has been continually degraded and discriminated against. It's very easy to say history is trivial when yours is in the books for all to see. It's extremely simple to brush off accounts of racism in today's society if you don't know the issues and events -- current and past.

Education and awareness of the injustices of the past and present are essential to guarantee no repetition of history. Black History Month is a small attempt, but education is a continual process. Education cannot stop because February ends and March begins. I could go on and on about Rosa Parks, Marion Anderson, Granville Woods, Edward J. Dwight Jr., Arnold Tamayo and countless others, but this column is too short -- and so is Black History Month.